The Workings of an English Major and Scott Westerfeld

So as many of you know, I have changed my major about 6 million times. But thankfully last year I finally settled on being an English major with an emphasis in education. Here's my logic behind this....English so I can be a screenwriter. Education to pay the bills and not starve while I am working on the whole screenwriting thing. Like it? I do. ANYWAYS... so yes I am an English major and I have become a read - a - holic. I have been reading all the time. Last semester I took a Young Adult Literature class and it all started from there. Later I'll blog about some of those books, but today it's Scott Westerfeld: my new favorite author.

So before I had even heard of Scott Westerfeld, when people would ask me who my favorite author was all I could say was, "I have no clue." And they would throw back, "But aren't you an english major?" Sheepishly and unsurely I would answer in reply, "Yes?" I had no clue. I mean I loved reading before and I had read a lot, but I just didn't have a favorite. Now I can say I do!

Welcome to the world of Uglies.

I absolutely love this book. It's a young teen named Tally who lives in this futuristic world where when you turn 16 everyone has this surgery to make you "pretty." You go from average looking, or what you're called: uglies, to super model pretties. That is Tally's entire life goal until she meets Shay, a fellow ugly who poses the idea that maybe their is more outside of Uglyville and Prettytown. There are people who live outside of the limits of the city who don't have the operation and Shay wants Tally to run away with her to go find it. The night before they are suppossed to have their operation Shay runs away and gives Tally directions to the "Smoke" (the place where the people outside the city live) incase she changes her mind. Enter Dr. Cable. She is a member of Special Circumstances, an organization thought to be a rumor in the city but they pretty much keep everything running according to their rules and regulations. Dr. Cable knows that Tally has been speaking to Shay and that Tally knows how to find the smoke. Cable gives Tally a choice, either follow the directions to the Smoke and activate a tracker so Dr. Cable knows where it is, or stay ugly forever. Well ofcourse for a kid who all her life has been told that her goal is to turn pretty at 16 would take option A. So the book is about Tally's journey to the Smoke, her life when she gets there, and her ultimate decision: betray her new friends and stay ugly forever or turn them in and get the one thing she's been yearning for all her life.

So to some of you it may not sound THAT interesting......but it is SOOO good! If you like young adult fiction, read it. And don't judge it based on my synopsis because my synopsis' are always horrible. I promise I haven't given away anything HUGE in the book. What I just summerized isn't even the first half. Not to mention there are three more books in the series:

I haven't read Extras yet, but the other three are fantastic. They are well written, have a great story, they are just all around good books. If you are a girl and are not really interested in sci-fi, or if you're a girl and you are, read these books. So good! He has also written a lot of other books such as Peeps, The Midnighters, and a couple of other things I'll post later. So far I have read Peeps and I'm about to start The Midnighters. I'll keep you posted!

For those of you who aren't English majors, please forgive my nerdiness. :)